Fuamnach

(Irish mythology) Midir's rejected first wife, who became jealous of Midir's lover Étaín, casting three spells on Étain, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Étaín

(Irish mythology) The lover of Midir whose rejected first wife Fuamnach became jealous and cast three spells on her, turning her into a pool of water, then into a worm, and then into a fly.


Midir

(Irish mythology) The son of the Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann who fell in love with Étaín, receiving Aengus's help to make her his new bride.


Lugh

Borrowed from Irish Lugh, from Old Irish Lug, from Primitive Irish ᚂᚒᚌ (lug), from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.

(Irish mythology) A pre-Christian Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past: the son of Cian and Ethniu.

Samh-ildánach ()

Summer-multi-talented; skilled in many arts


Tailtiu

(Irish mythology) A presumed goddess who was the survivor of the invasion of Tuatha Dé Danann and was the foster mother of Lugh.


Ceres

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Ceres.wav

Learned borrowing from Latin Cerēs, goddess of the bounty, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“to grow, to nourish”). More at create.

der

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of agriculture; equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter.


Triton

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Triton.wav

(Greek mythology) A god of the sea, son of Poseidon.


Fachtna Fáthach

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who was deposed by Eochaid Feidlech at the Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Eochaid Feidlech

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, who deposed the former High King Fachtna Fáthach at the battle of Battle of Leitir Ruadh.


Fráech

From Middle Irish Fráech, from Old Irish Fróech, from fróech (“heather”), from Proto-Celtic *wroikos.

(Irish mythology) The Connacht hero in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology who wooed Findabair and Treblann, but was drowned in a river in a duel with Cúchulainn.


Nera

(Irish mythology) A warrior of Connacht in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Gordian knot

/ˈɡɔːdɪən ˈnɒt/

/ˈɡoʊɹdɪən ˈnɑt/

From the name of a legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium. It was prophesied that whoever loosed the knot would become ruler of all Asia. Alexander the Great solved the puzzle by slicing through the knot and took it as a sign of Zeus' favor. He then proceeded to conquer much of the known world.

(Greek mythology) The legendary knot tied to a pole near the temple of Zeus in Gordium.


cockatrice

First attested 1382 as Middle English cocatrice (“basilisk”), from Old French cocatriz, from Late Latin calcātrīx (“she who treads upon something”), from Latin calcō (“tread”), from calx (“heel, hoof”).

“Peace reigns in happy Luxor. The lion lies down with the lamb, and the child, if it will, may harmlessly put its hand into the cockatrice’s den.”

c. 1910, Joseph Walker McSpadden, The Spell of Egypt:

(mythology) A legendary creature about the size and shape of a dragon or wyvern, but in appearance resembling a giant rooster, with some lizard-like characteristics.


Uranian

en-adj

Uranian (comparative more Uranian, superlative most Uranian)

more Uranian (comparative)
most Uranian (superlative)

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Louvre
Plato

From Latin Ūrania (“muse of astronomy in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns). Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ (Ouraníā, “muse of astronomy”), from οὐράνιος (ouránios, “of or relating to the sky, celestial, heavenly”) (from οὐρανός (ouranós, “the sky; heaven, home of the gods; the universe”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers- (“rain”)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘pertaining to’).
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος (ouránios).
Adjective sense 2 (“homosexual”) and the noun sense (“a homosexual”) refer to Plato’s work Symposium (c. 385–370 B.C.E.), where the goddess Aphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning (“a homosexual, Uranian”), Urnigtum (“homosexuality”), also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual (see further at that entry). The term is no longer mainstream and is almost never used in modern contexts, though it has enjoyed a slight revival as a term for "gay man" as an analogue to lesbian.

der

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

For assuredly are there two Venuses; one, the eldest, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian;—of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. [...] [T]he attendant on the other, the Uranian, whose nature is entirely masculine, is the Love who inspires us with affection, and exempts us from all wantonness and libertinism.

a. 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Banquet. Translated from Plato.”, in Mrs. Shelley [i.e., Mary Shelley], editor, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, … In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:

That this is indeed the general tendency of his [Pausanias of Athens'] speech is made clear by two remarks that follow immediately upon his differentiating the Pandemian from the Uranian gods. [...] But what is true for Aphrodite seems to be a contradiction in terms: she is both one and two and all gods must be praised—both Uranian and Pandemian—and yet only the Uranian ought to be praised [...].

2010, Steven Berg, “Pausanias: Noble Lies and the Fulfillment of Greekness”, in Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s Symposium (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Athens and Enlightenment), page 27:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of Aphrodite Urania, the heavenly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the earthly aspect known as Aphrodite Pandemos: heavenly, spiritual.

Graced by nurses (art's nurse highly grac'd him) / Who fed him with pure marrow of the Muses; / And when he list, with moisture to refresh him, / He drunke cleare Helicon: cleare from abuses, / He bent his mind to pure Vranian vses, / Vranianie him did to heau'n vpreare: / And made to man, him demi-god appeare.

1600, Cyril Tourneur, The Transformed Metamorphosis, [London]: Printed by Valentine Sims, […], →OCLC; republished in John Churton Collins, editor, The Plays and Poems of Cyril Tourneur: […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chatto and Windus, […], 1878, →OCLC, page 213:

Actually, this little girl-child should have been as happy as a lark. But, she wasn't. This is because her Bengali genes had her continually wish to be a Sarasvati, or Uranian Muse, to all the males who came within her ambit – incessantly inspiring them to great works of Art or Scientific discoveries.

2007, Vivek Iyer, chapter 8, in Samlee’s Daughter: A Novel, Great Britain: Polyglot Publications, →ISBN, section I:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, dated) Relating to Urania, the Muse of astronomy.


Trojan horse

(Greek mythology) The hollow wooden horse by which the Greeks allegedly gained access to Ilium/Troy during the Trojan War.


Amata

From Latin amāta (“loved, beloved”); feminine perfect passive participle of amāre (“love”). It can also be interpreted as the feminine form of the saint's name Amātus.

(Roman mythology) The wife of Latinus and the mother of Lavinia.


drow

en-noun

drow (countable and uncountable, plural drow)

A Shetlandic and Orcadian alteration of trow, most likely influenced by an unattested Norn *drog (“malevolent [undead] being”). Trow is derived from Norn troll, or otherwise from Old Norse trǫll. L-vocalisation occurred in the early 15th century in Middle Scots, so "trolly knolls" probably became *trowie knowes around this time. The supposed Norn *drog would have been derived from Old Norse draugr.

der

(rare, mythology, countable) A trow; a member of a race of folkloric beings from Orkney and Shetland; cognate to the Scandinavian troll.


god-king

devaraja

Southeast Asian, Hindu-Buddhist divine monarch

(mythology, literally) A king who is of divine descent.


shape-shifter

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) Alternative form of shapeshifter


Fenian Cycle

(Irish mythology) A body of prose and verse focusing on the exploits of the mythological hero Fionn mac Cumhail and his warriors the Fianna Éireann.

cicle fenià

a body of prose and verse focusing on the exploits of the mythological hero Fionn mac Cumhail and his warriors


Fianna Éireann

Meaning "Soldiery of Ireland", named after the mythological Fianna


monomyth

From mono- + myth. Borrowed by Joseph Campbell from Finnegans Wake.

Most male epics follow Joseph Campbell's monomyth pretty neatly; can we expect Barrett Browning to do the same? Is the monomyth a male construct, the “male-myth” rather than the unified myth that speaks for all, […]

2008, E. L. Risden, Heroes, Gods and the Role of Epiphany in English Epic Poetry, McFarland, →ISBN, page 143:

(mythology) A cyclical journey or quest undertaken by a mythical hero.

Joseph Campbell
The Hero with a Thousand Faces


Graces

From Latin Gratiae, from gratia (“grace”), from Ancient Greek χᾰ́ρῐς (kháris, “grace, charity”).

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">grace</i>, charity

(Greek mythology) Three sister goddesses in Greek mythology (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia), in whom beauty was deified.


ichor

en-noun

ichor (countable and uncountable, plural ichors)

Sense 1 (“liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods”) is borrowed from Medieval Latin ichor, from Ancient Greek ῑ̓χώρ (īkhṓr, “fluid running through the veins of gods, ichor; watery part of blood, lymph, serum; watery part of milk, whey; gravy; pus; naphtha”); further etymology unknown, probably from Pre-Greek.
Sense 2.4 (“fetid, watery discharge from a sore”) is from Middle English icor, icore [and other forms], from Medieval Latin ichor; see further above.

der

This ſaid, ſhe wip’d from Venus’ wounded Palm / The ſacred Ichor, and infus’d the Balm.

1716, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book V”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 505–506:

With his protruded ſpear her gentle hand / He wounded, piercing through her thin attire / Ambroſial, by themſelves the Graces wrought, / Her inſide wriſt, faſt by her roſy palm. / Blood follow'd, but immortal; ichor pure, / Such as the bleſt inhabitants of heav'n / May bleed, nectareous; […]

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book V.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 121, lines 387–393:

He [Saint Peter] potter'd with his keys at a great rate, / And sweated through his apostolic skin: / Of course his perspiration was but ichor, / Or some such other spiritual liquor.

1822 October 15, Quevedo Redivivus [pseudonym; Lord Byron], “The Vision of Judgment”, in The Liberal. Verse and Prose from the South, 2nd edition, volume I, number I, London: […] John Hunt, […], published 1823, →OCLC, stanza XXV, page 11:

(Greek mythology) The liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods.


simurgh

(Iranian mythology) A gigantic winged benevolent creature.


naiad

From Latin Naias, from Ancient Greek Νᾱϊάς (Nāïás, “naiad”), from νάω (náō, “to flow”).

(Greek mythology) A female deity (nymph) associated with water, especially a spring, stream, or other fresh water.


ETV

en-noun

ETV (countable and uncountable, plural ETVs)

(ufology, countable) Initialism of extraterrestrial vehicle.


Phoebus

From Middle English Phebus, from Latin Phoebus, from Ancient Greek Φοῖβος (Phoîbos).

Mor. Miſlike me not for my complexion,
The ſhadowed liuerie of the burniſht ſunne,
To whom I am a neighbour, and neere bred.
Bring me the faireſt creature North-ward borne,
Where Phœbus fire ſcarce thawes the yſicles,
And let vs make inciſion for your loue,
To proue whoſe blood is reddeſt, his or mine.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 167:

(Greek mythology) An epithet and synonym for Helios; Phoebus Helios, after his maternal aunt, Phoebe.

By Phœbus, here's a moſt neate fine ſtreete; is't not? I proteſt to thee, I am enamord of this ſtreete now, more then of halfe the ſtreetes of Rome, againe; tis ſo polite, and terſe; […]

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:

The heaven doth not contain so many stars,
So many leaves not prostrate lie in woods,
When autumn’s old and Boreas sounds his wars,
So many waves have not the ocean floods,
As my rent mind hath torments all the night,

17th century, William Drummond, Sextain I, in English Poetry, published 1907, page 162

And heart spends sighs, when Phœbus brings the light.

For she recalled the edict which decreed
If in one day she did not take or kill
The challenger (to this King Charles agreed),
She was his captive and must do his will.
Phoebus was soon to plunge his golden head
Into the western sea when of her skill
And strength the Maid at last began doubt,
While her fatigue was putting hope to rout.[…]

1991 August 29, Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: Part Two (Orlando Furioso), Penguin UK, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) An epithet and synonym for Apollo; Phoebus Apollo.


Nordic

From French nordique, from nord (“north”).

Called “Nordics,” the aliens are human-like in appearance, of average height, and often have long, flowing hair. Contactees are typically struck by the beauty of the Nordics, as was Howard Menger (1959): “She seemed to radiate and glow,” Menger explains,

2007, Erich Goode, D. Angus Vail, Extreme Deviance, Pine Forge Press, page 41:

But the third most common alien is called a Nordic, or humanoid.

2012, Kelly Milner Halls, Alien Investigation: Searching for the Truth about UFOs and Aliens, Millbrook Press, page 45:

Known as Nordics, these extraterrestrials are said to have blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin and are anywhere from 6 to 8 feet (183cm to 244cm) tall.

2012, Patricia D. Netzley, Extraterrestrial Life: Alien Encounters, Reference Point Press, page 33

(ufology, science fiction) A race of extraterrestrials similar in appearance to Nordic humans.


kobold

kobold (plural kobolds or (rare) kobolde)

Borrowed from German Kobold. Doublet of cobalt.

1904, Andrew Lang (collector), author and translator not identified, The Mermaid and the Boy, The Brown Fairy Book, page 176,
At this point a cock crew, and the youth jumped up hastily saying : 'Of course I shall ride with the king to the war, and if I do not return, take your violin every evening to the seashore and play on it, so that the very sea-kobolds who live at the bottom of the ocean may hear it and come to you.'

Movers, in the first chapter of his Phönizier, says that that group of deities called Dactyls, Cabiri, Corybantes, and Cyclopes, were similar to those old Germanic divinities now known as Kobolds.

2009, Robert Grant Haliburton, The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas: Collected Papers on the Curious Anthropology of Robert Grant Haliburton, page 75:

(German mythology) An ambivalent, sometimes vindictive, spirit that is capable of materialising as an object or human, often a child; a sprite.


gorgon

From Middle English gorgon, from Latin Gorgō, from Ancient Greek Γοργώ (Gorgṓ), from γοργός (gorgós, “terrible”). Possibly from the same root as the Sanskrit word "garğ" (गर्जन), which is defined as a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia.

(Greek mythology) A vicious female monster from Greek mythology with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. One of the three sisters: Medusa, Stheno and Euryale


Nidhogg

Learned borrowing from Old Norse Níðhǫggr (“Malice Striker”)

lbor

(Norse mythology) a dragon who lives in Niflheim (world of ice and the dead), feeding upon the roots of Yggdrasil and bodies of the damned.


genii

On the 11th Century glass bowl above, the painted figures—winged genii, nude athletes and brawny soldiers—resemble mythological characters but may be only lighthearted mimicry of ancient Greek or Roman subjects.

1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:

plural of genius
(Roman mythology) Guardian spirits.


golden age

/ˈɡəʊl.dən eɪd͡ʒ/


nectar

en-noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

der

They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods.


Apophis

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Apophis.wav

From Ancient Greek Ἄποφις (Ápophis), a borrowing from Egyptian ꜥꜣpp altered after ὄφις (óphis, “snake”).

(Egyptian mythology) An evil snake-god who tries to devour the sun every night.

أبوفيس

an evil snake-god who tries to devour the sun every night


Fimbulwinter

(Norse mythology) One of the signs of the onset of the end of this world, the final, three-year-long winter (with no intervening summers); it marks the coming of the Ragnarok, the battle that will end the world.

fimbulvinter

in Norse mythology, the long winter signifying the coming of Ragnarok


Pleiad

(Greek mythology) Any one of the Pleiades.


close encounter

en-noun

close encounter (plural close encounters)

(ufology) A supposed observation, or observation of evidence, of extraterrestrial beings or their craft.

contato imediato

observation of extraterrestrials or their craft


oread

From Latin Orēas, Orēadis, from Ancient Greek Ὀρειάς (Oreiás), from ὄρος (óros, “mountain”).

The imprisoned ringlets are emancipated; 'fresh as the oread from the forest fountain,' you descend—you breathe the incense of the chocolate—not more I hope—and grow conversational and confidential over the green tea, which, with a fragrance beyond all the violets of April, rises to your lip, 'giving and taking odours.'

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 92:

(Greek mythology) A mountain nymph; an anthropomorphic appearance of the spirit of a mountain.


mythopoetic

en-adj

mythopoetic (comparative more mythopoetic, superlative most mythopoetic)

more mythopoetic (comparative)
most mythopoetic (superlative)

(mythology) Given the quality of a myth or a poem, used typically in opposition to a purely factual account.


Sisyphus

Indeed, I have looked upon the fable of Sisyphus as an allegory, and that his wife was the stone which so perpetually rolled back upon his hands, effectually retarding his weary progress up-hill.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 132:

(Greek mythology) Son of Aeolus and Enarete, and king of Ephyra, as tragic figure doomed eternally to roll a boulder up a hill in Tartarus, a part of Hades.


Apple Isle

From apple + isle.
* (Avalon): Translation of Latin Insula Pomorum (“Island of Apples”), Geoffrey of Monmouth's alternative name for Insula Avallonis.
* (Tasmania): A reference to Tasmania's former status as an important apple grower and exporter. Possibly influenced by a supposed resemblance of the map of Tasmania to the shape of an apple.

uder

The journey involved a quest for the mysterious Avalon, the Apple Isle — home of immortality and hidden wisdom.

2002, Sheena Morgan, The Real Halloween: Ritual and Magic for the New Millennium, page 67:

He is equally at home over and under the waves, bringing some chosen ones, like Connla and Bran and the great King Cormac, to visit him in the Apple Isle, the Land of Promise.

2004, Eithne Massey, Legendary Ireland: A Journey through Celtic Places and Myths, page 139:

How can we, who have heard the Voice of the Lady of the Apple Isle, fulfill this calling?

2010, Jhenah Telyndru, Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery, and Inner Wisdom, page 5:


nebris

From Latin nebris, from Ancient Greek νεβρίς (nebrís), earlier νεβρός (nebrós, “fawn”).

(Greek mythology) The skin of a fawn, as worn by Dionysus, and as worn in his honor by his male followers and female followers (maenads) and other votaries in Ancient Greece. It has also been shown as a panther or fox skin in different contexts.


Brigid

/ˈbɹɪ.d͡ʒɪd/

From Irish Brighid, from Old Irish Brigit, from Proto-Celtic *Brigantī (“high, exalted”).

der

The pagan Brigid was part of the Tuatha Dé Danann – a race of dieties who are said to have inhabited Ireland before the Milesians, from whom today’s Irish people are descended. Raised among druids, Brigid was the daughter of an enslaved woman and the Dagda, chief of the gods.

2024 February 5, Katy Hessel, “Move over Saint Patrick: why the world should be celebrating beer-brewing Brigid”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(Irish mythology) The goddess of the Sacred Flame of Kildare and the patron goddess of the Druids. Daughter of Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann.


Dagda

The Middle Irish name Dagda means “Good God” or “Shining God”, from Old Irish Dagdae, from Proto-Celtic *Dago-deiwos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰagʰo- (“shining”) (< *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”)) + *deywós (“divinity”).

Raised among druids, Brigid was the daughter of an enslaved woman and the Dagda, chief of the gods.

(Irish mythology) An important god in Irish mythology, portrayed as a father figure, king, and druid.


Silvius

From Latin Silvius, from silva (“forest”).

(Roman mythology) The son of Ascanius and his wife.


Cethern

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, an Ulster warrior (son of Fintan) who assists Cúchulainn in the Táin Bó Cúailnge.


Uathach

(Irish mythology) The daughter of Scáthach and later the lover of Cúchulainn (after a duel with Cochar Crufe).


Táin Bó Cúailnge

(Irish mythology) The central tale in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Sylvia

Feminine form of a Medieval form of Silvius, from Latin silva (“forest”). In myths, Rhea Silvia was the mother of famous twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. 6th-century saint Silvia was the mother of the pope Gregory the Great.

(Roman mythology) Short for Princess Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome.


Cú Roí

The first element is apparently cú (“hound”); the second probably means "battlefield", making the whole term "hound of the battlefield".

(Irish mythology) A king of Munster and sorcerer who was killed by Cúchulainn and avenged by his son, Lugaid mac Con Roí, who was subsequently killed by Conall the Victorious.


Clymene

(Greek mythology) A nymph married to Iapetus, mother of Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius and Atlas.


Flidais

(Irish mythology) A woodland goddess whose chariot is drawn by deer.


Mesgegra

Conall the Victorious
Conall the Victorious

(Irish mythology) The king of Leinster during the events of the Ulster Cycle. He was killed by Conall the Victorious.


Donn Cuailnge

(Irish mythology) The Brown Bull of Cooley: an extremely fertile stud bull over whom the Táin Bó Cúailnge was fought.


Mórrígan

From Irish Mór-Ríoghain ("great queen"), from Middle Irish Morrígan.

(Irish mythology) An Irish mythological figure widely considered to be a goddess, and usually interpreted as a triple goddess.


Macha

(Irish mythology) The wife of Nemed. She died only twelve days after arriving in Ireland.


Hyperborea

From Ancient Greek ὑπερβόρεος (huperbóreos), i.e. ὑπέρ (hupér, “over”) + βόρειος (bóreios, “northern”).

(Greek mythology) the land of sunshine and plenty, beyond the northern wind, home to the hyperboreans, a race of giants

Hyperborea

The mythical land of sunshine and plenty


sylph

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest”). Related to sylvan.
More at Wikipedia.

Her heart fluttered with expectation—her step was buoyant with hope, and she sprung into the carriage with the lightness of a sylph.

Necromancy meant originally the conjuring up the souls of the dead, and later included the conjuring of all sorts of inhuman spirits such as sylphs, giants, and djinn.

1941, Rupert Gleadow, Magic and Divination, page 125:

(mythology) An invisible being of the air.


gremlin

Oxford English Dictionary
Roald Dahl
The Gremlins

Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* A variant of goblin.
* From Irish gruaimín (“gloomy little person”); or from Dutch gremmelen (“to soil, stain; to spoil”), or griemelen, grimmelen (“(obsolete) to abound, teem; to swarm”), but according to the Oxford English Dictionary there is little evidence for such derivations.
The word was popularized, especially in the United States, by the children’s novel The Gremlins (1943) by the British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990), in which gremlins sabotage Royal Air Force aircraft in revenge for the destruction of their forest home to make way for an aircraft factory; the creatures later join forces with the British to fight the Nazis.

Like Abominable Snowmen, gremlins have never actually been seen; but nobody who works with electronic gear doubts the existence of these mischievous and elusive entities. There are too many malfunctions and failures that can have no other explanation.

1963, Arthur C Clarke, chapter 8, in Glidepath, New York: Simon and Schuster, pages 72-73:

Crucial time was saved by the fact Nexus didn't require a Transport & Works Act. Nevertheless, other gremlins kept raising their heads.

2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 34:

(originally British, aviation, Royal Air Force slang)

(mythology) An imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined, for example, to damage or dismantle machinery.

гремлин

imaginary creature reputed to be mischievously inclined to damage or dismantle machinery


Tyr

From Old Norse Týr, from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“god”). Doublet of Tiw.

(Norse mythology) The Norse god of war, identifiable with Tiu or Tiw.


Lebor Gabála Érenn

The title translates as The Book of the Taking of Ireland.

(Irish mythology) A loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of an Irish race from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages.


Cassandra

From Ancient Greek Κασσάνδρα (Kassándra).

And so when Cassandra foretold the evils that were to come upon Troy, even her own people would not credit her words.

1897, Michael Clarke, The Story of Troy, page 30:

(Greek mythology) A prophetess who was daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen Hecuba. She captured the eye of Apollo and was granted the ability to see the future; however, she was destined never to be believed.


Auster

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Roman mythology) The god of the south wind.


Cimmerian

/sɪˈmɪəɹ.ɪ.ən/

From the Latin Cimmerius, from Ancient Greek Κιμμέριος (Kimmérios, “pertaining to the Cimmerii”) + -an.

The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands
With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun
Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,

1791, Homer, translated by William Cowper, The Odyssey of Homer:

On their mysterious shores were the improbable homes of impossible peoples. The Great Sea, the Broad Sea, the Boundless Sea; the Ethiopians, "dwelling far away, the most distant of men," and the Cimmerians, "covered with darkness and cloud," where "baleful night is spread over timid mortals."

1900, Jack London, The Shrinkage of the Planet:

(Greek mythology) Any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness.

Κιμμέριος

any of the mythical people supposed to inhabit a land of perpetual darkness


hamadryad

en-noun

hamadryad (plural hamadryads or hamadryades)

hamadryads (plural)
hamadryades (plural)

From Latin Hamadryas, from Ancient Greek Ἁμαδρυάς (Hamadruás), from ἅμα (háma, “together”) + δρῦς (drûs, “tree”).

af

The hamadryades have gone, like the golden fancies of which they were engendered—morning dreams of a young world scarce awake, but full of freshness and beauty. Yet often will the thought, or rather the fancy, come across me, that this wailing but most musical noise—heard in the dim evening, when every tree has a separate sound like a separate instrument, and every leaf a differing tone like the differing notes—is the piteous lament of some nymph pent within the gray and mossy trunk whence she may never more emerge in visible loveliness.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 301:

The various supports, rafters, braces and plates are of pandanus logs of a rich oily brown, and make one think of a sylvan cathedral where hamadryads might very well dance, where Syrinx might be chased by Pan, Daphne by Apollo, and various other heathen rites take place in the dark hours before the dawn.

1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 106:

(Greek mythology) A wood-nymph who was physically a part of her tree; she would die if her tree were felled.


Horus

From Late Latin Hōrus, from Ancient Greek Ὧρος (Hôros), from Egyptian ḥr.

(Egyptian mythology) The ancient Egyptian falcon-headed god of the sun, sky, war, and kingship.


hyperborean

/hʌɪ.pəˈbɔː.ɹɪən/

From Late Latin hyperboreanus, cognate with Classical Latin hyperboreus, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβόρεος (huperbóreos), composed of ὑπέρ (hupér, “over”) + βόρειος (bóreios, “northern”). See also Ὑπερβόρεοι (Huperbóreoi).

The Hyperboreans venerated Apollo over the other gods.

(Greek mythology, usually capitalised) One of a race of people living in the extreme north, beyond the north wind.

Hyperboréen

(Greek mythology), one a race of people living in the extreme north


Isis

Learned borrowing from Latin Īsis from Ancient Greek Ἶσις (Îsis), from Egyptian st-t:H8-B1 (ꜣst).

Grant me profane kiss / Oh Isis, mother ov all / Thy lips like morphine / Teasing my slumbering heart

2009, Behemoth, Defiling Morality ov Black God:

(Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian goddess, the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, worshiped as the ideal mother and wife and as the matron of nature and magic.


silver age

(historical, mythology) A historical period of great accomplishment in a field or a society; in storytelling archetypes, usually following, and not quite as favorable as, a golden age, and not unfavorable as an iron age.


panther

From Middle English panter, panther, pantere, from Old French pantere, from Latin panthēra, from Ancient Greek πάνθηρ (pánthēr, “panther”).

der

(mythology, heraldry) A creature resembling a big cat, typically incensed (“emitting fire”), and often having a multicolored hide, found in Ancient Greek mythology and in medieval and later heraldry (in which its depiction sometimes approaches that of a horse).


Fenrir

Fenrir
Fenrir (moon)
Poetic Edda
Prose Edda

Borrowed from Old Norse Fenrir (“fen-dweller”), Fenrisúlfr (“Fenris wolf”).

bor+

Lokasenna, stanzas 37-40, comprise an exchange between Týr and Loki. Loki boasts that Fenrir tore off Týr's arm; Týr responds that although he may be missing his hand, Loki is missing Hródrsvitnir, that is, the famous wolf, Fenrir.

2001, John Lindow, Handbook of Norse Mythology, ABC-CLIO, page 113:

Feared and misunderstood, Fenrir was the bringer of doom to the gods and was known as "an axe-age, a sword-age, a wind-age, a wolf-age before the wrecking of the world."

2009, Sarah Bartlett, The Mythology Bible, Sterling Publishing Co., page 294:

It is my own opinion that the Black Shuck is another manifestation of Fenrir, the large and terrible wolf, who is the eldest child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.

2011, Nick Redfern, “Phantom Hounds of the Woods”, in Brad Steiger, editor, Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside, Visible Ink Press, page 46:

(Norse mythology) A monstrous wolf, one of Loki's offspring, who bites off Tyr's right hand while being bound by the gods in fear of a prophecy that he will kill Odin, remaining so bound until the events of Ragnarok.


Osiris

(Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of the dead and of the underworld.


mythologic

en-adj

mythologic (comparative more mythologic, superlative most mythologic)

more mythologic (comparative)
most mythologic (superlative)

(mythology) Of or pertaining to mythology


Golden Fleece

[ˈɡɒʊ̯ɫ.dn̩ ˈfliːs]

(Greek mythology) A magical fleece from a winged ram guarded by the hydra in the tale of Jason and the Argonauts.


Athenian

(Greek mythology) Of or related to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, technology, and skillful warfare.


Pollux

From Latin Pollūx, from Ancient Greek Πολυδεύκης (Poludeúkēs).

(Greek mythology) One of the Dioscuri, son of Zeus and Leda, brother of Castor.


Hyades

From Middle English Hyades, Yades, from Latin Hyades, from Ancient Greek Ὑάδες (Huádes), nominative and vocative plural of Ὑ̄̆ᾰ́ς (Hūás, “one of the Hyades”).

(Greek mythology) Daughters of the Titan Atlas and sisters of the Pleiades.


Pterelas

(Greek mythology) King of the Teleboans in Plautus' Amphitruo.


therianthrope

/ˈθɛɹ.i.ənˌθɹoʊp/

From Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”) + Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man”).

af

Among the depictions are a black rhinoceros, the body of an antelope covered by a red line, two white animals with black stripes that may be zebras, and a therianthrope. The therianthrope (Figure 9.11) appears to have a feline body with human hind legs that may have been added after the original legs had faded somewhat (Wendt 1974:27).

2016, Carmel Schrire, Past and Present in Hunter Gatherer Studies, Routledge, →ISBN:

One appears to have a large beak while another has an appendage resembling a tail. In the language of archaeology, these are therianthropes, or characters that embody a mix of human and animal characteristics. […] The otherworldly nature of the therianthropes also raises the possibility that they are mythical beings, or manifestations of “animal spirit helpers” that are common in shamanic beliefs, according to the study.

2019 December 11, Becky Ferreira, “Mythical Beings May Be Earliest Imaginative Cave Art by Humans”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(mythology) Any mythical being which is part human, part animal.

homme-bête

any mythical being which is part human, part animal


Hellen

(Greek mythology) the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha, brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus


Pleiades

From Latin Pleiades, from Ancient Greek Πλειάδες (Pleiádes). In the astronomical sense, displaced Old English seofonstierre (literally “the seven stars”).

ncog

(Greek mythology) The "seven sisters", companions of Artemis and daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione.


Ceto

From Ancient Greek Κητώ (Kētṓ); see also κῆτος (kêtos, “sea monster”). Compare Cetus.

(Greek mythology) A primordial sea goddess, wife of Phorcys and mother of numerous monsters including Echidna and the gorgons.


Cepheus

(Greek mythology) Husband of Cassiopeia, king of Eritrea, father of Andromeda. There may be two mythical kings by this name.


Cassiopeia

kăs′ē-ō-pē′yə

From Latin Cassiopēia, from Ancient Greek Κασσιόπεια (Kassiópeia) or Κασσιόπη (Kassiópē).

(Greek mythology) Proud wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda, queen of Ethiopia. When she boasted that her beauty was equal to that of the Nereids, she was punished by Poseidon.


Fornax

Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Originally called Fornāx Chemica,
From the Latin for "chemical furnace".

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of ovens.


Apollonian

/æpəˈləʊnɪ.ən/

From Latin Apollō (Apollōn-) + -ian and Apollonius/Apollonia + -an.

You have your lovers - dusky beaus / Not made of the poetic stuff / That sports an Apollonian nose, / And wears a sleek Byronic cuff.

1877, Henry Kendall, “Ode to a Black Gin”, in The Australian Town and Country Journal, page 24:

The forces of nature is a major theme embodied in the two main goddess characters. The "northern woman" is Appollonian ^([sic]) in her nature — cold, reserved, quiet, identified with the moon; the "southern woman" is Dionysian — passionate, a sun goddess.

1979 August 4, Linda Stein, “Stopping Short of Self-Awareness”, in Gay Community News, page 18:

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the ancient Olympian Greek God Apollo.


peri

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish پری (peri), from Persian پری (pari).

bor+

He sent a Peri to Chundum Dew with a message: "If you wish to live, release the mortal in your power: if not, every demon in your service will immediately be put to the sword."

January-June 1829, “The Adventures of Hatim-Beni-Tye”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies, volume 27, page 549:

In an hour they hovered above Hampstead Heath, and the peri looked down for a lonely spot where she might alight in the sulphurous gloom of a dog-day sunset too blinding for anyone to look at […]

March 16 1916, Alfred Richard Orage, Arthur Moore, The New Age: A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature and Art, page 473:

The Padishah's son was also there, and he realized that the peri looked very familiar.

2008, A Fire in My Heart: Kurdish Tales, page 75:

(Iranian mythology) A sprite or supernatural being.


Canopus

(Greek mythology) The pilot of King Menelaus's ship in the Iliad.


Wadjet

Borrowed from Egyptian wAD-t-I12 (wꜣḏt, “Wadjet”, literally “green one”), an allusion to the skin of the cobra. Doublet of Buto.

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">wꜣḏt</i>

(Egyptian mythology) The patron goddess and namesake of the Ancient Egyptian city of Per-Wadjet, known as Buto to the Greeks. Wadjet takes the form of a cobra and is associated with the Eye of Horus.


Enceladus

From Latin Enceladus, from Ancient Greek Ἐγκέλαδος (Enkélados).

(Greek mythology) A giant in Greek mythology.


Alcmene

From Latin Alcmēnē, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκμήνη (Alkmḗnē).

(Greek mythology) Descendant of Perseus and Andromeda, the wife of Amphitryon, and mother, by Zeus, of Heracles/Hercules.

Ալկմենե

the wife of Amphitryon and mother, by Zeus, of Heracles


repeater

(ufology) A person who regularly sees unexplained sightings of paranormal phenomena.

avvistatore

a person who regularly sees unexplained sightings of paranormal phenomena


Plutonian

en-adj

Plutonian (comparative more Plutonian, superlative most Plutonian)

more Plutonian (comparative)
most Plutonian (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Latin Plūtōnius (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives). Plūtōnius is from Ancient Greek Πλουτώνιος (Ploutṓnios, “of or relating to Pluto”), from Πλούτων (Ploútōn, “Pluto”) (from πλοῦτος (ploûtos, “riches, wealth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plew- (“to fly; to flow; to run”)) + -ων (-ōn)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Middle French plutonien (modern French plutonien). The noun is derived from the adjective.

plutonien

of, pertaining to, or supporting plutonism — see also Plutonic

[…] he through the midſt unmarkt, / In ſhew Plebeian Angel militant / Of loweſt order, paſt; and from the dore / Of that Plutonian Hall, inviſible / Aſcended his high Throne, […]

1674, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, page 264:

["]Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore— / Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" / Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

You rise by candle-light or gaslight, swearing / There never was a climate made like ours; / If rashly you go out to take an airing, / The soot-flakes come in black Plutonian show'rs.

1882 December 30, “A London Fog”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume 83, London: Published at the office, 85, Fleet Street, →OCLC, page 301, column 1:

Cotopaxi is striking not only because it looks like a science fiction conception of another planet; it also is the least realistic among [Frederic Edwin] Church's paintings of the area. […] Below the fiery sun is a lake with a barren shore. As such, the sun hangs over a Plutonian landscape.

2008, Rodrigo Lazo, “The Ends of Enchantment: Douglass, Melville, and U.S. Expansionism in the Americas”, in Robert S[teven] Levine, Samuel Otter, editors, Frederick Douglass & Herman Melville: Essays in Relation, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, part I (Literary and Cultural Geographies), page 210:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld; demonic, infernal.

Plutoniin liittyvä

of or relating to Pluto, the Greek and Roman god of the underworld


Anthea

From Ancient Greek ἄνθη (ánthē, “blossom”).

(Greek mythology) The epithet of the Greek goddess Hera


timestream

By killing his great-grandfather, the time traveller disrupted the timestream.

The slightest excess of effort might upset the balance at any point of the time stream, sending them backward into the past or forward into the future independently of my will.

[1931 December, Eric Temple Bell, “The Time Stream”, in Wonder Stories:

The timestream is littered with these blank areas.

Two different timestreams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster timestream.

2011, Tom MacRae, “The Girl Who Waited”, in Nick Hurran, director, Doctor Who, season 6, episode 10, spoken by The Doctor (Matt Smith):

(science fiction, mythology) A metaphorical conception of time as a stream, or flowing body of water.


moly

en-noun

moly (countable and uncountable, plural molies)

From Latin mōly, from Ancient Greek μῶλυ (môlu) (probably a loanword).

It excels Homers moly, cures this, falling sickness, and almost all other infirmities.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection iii:

Or, propt on beds of amaranth and moly, / How sweet (while warm airs lull us, blowing lowly,)

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 114:

So spoke the Radiant One; then gave me the magic herb, pulling it from the ground and showing me in what form it grew; its root was black, its flower milk-white. Its name among the gods is moly.

1980, Homer, translated by Walter Shrewing, The Odyssey, Oxford, published 1998, page 120:

I would need all the secret herbs of Dicte […] . I would need as well the rest of my moly stores.

2018, Madeline Miller, Circe, Bloomsbury 2019, p. 113

(Greek mythology) A magic herb or plant used by Odysseus to overcome Circe.


peng

From romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 鵬／鹏 (péng).

(Chinese mythology) A legendary enormous bird.


Palladian

From Latin Palladius (“of or relating to Pallas”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives from nouns). Palladius is derived from Pallas (from Ancient Greek Παλλάς (Pallás), genitive Παλλάδος (Palládos), an epithet of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns).

suffix

[I]f in this the moſt conſummat act of his fidelity and ripeneſſe, no years, no induſtry, no former proof of his abilities can bring him to that ſtate of maturity, as not to be ſtill miſtruſted and ſuſpected, unleſſe he carry all his conſiderat diligence, all his midnight watchings, and expence of Palladian oyl, to the haſty view of an unleaſur'd licencer, perhaps much his younger, perhaps far his inferiour in judgement, [...]

1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 21:

I dwell upon this point, in the view of explaining and, as to one letter, correcting a memorable passage of Sophocles concerning the Palladian olive tree; in which he says, that it is a plant, preserved by Jove and Athena, in order to confound the enemies of Athens, and adds "that no man, young or old, (i.e. now or ever,) shall render it vain and of none effect, by pointing it out with his finger to the Persians."

1828, [Algernon Herbert], “Ba-bel”, in Nimrod: A Discourse on Certain Passages of History and Fable, volume I, London: Printed for Richard Priestley, →OCLC, pages 192–193:

She threw forward her arms, as if with spear and buckler. Miss Barfoot was smiling at this Palladian attitude when a servant announced two ladies, Mrs. Smallbrook and Miss Haven.

1893, George Gissing, “A Camp of the Reserve”, in The Odd Women […], volume I, London: Lawrence & Bullen […], →OCLC, page 145:

the figure for Palladian wisdom and chastity

2001, Charles Dempsey, Inventing the Renaissance Putto, University of North Carolina Press, page 176:

Where mentioned at all in historical discussions it [Elizabethan drama] is typically in passing, with the primary focus either on the continuity that Tudor drama has with the medieval folk drama, or simply on that drama itself, as virtually a Palladian birth in the reign of Elizabeth [I], fathered indeed by the great Zeus of the Renaissance [William Shakespeare], as most commentators recognize, but in whose original inspiration the contribution of the discipline of rhetoric specifically is not apparently of special moment.

2004, Trevor McNeely, “Rhetoric, Theater, Poetry, and Shakespeare”, in Proteus Unmasked: Sixteenth-century Rhetoric and the Art of Shakespeare, Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press; Cranbury, N.J.; London: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 50:

(Greek mythology, rare) Of or relating to Pallas, an epithet of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and potentially to other female Greek figures such as Pallas the daughter of Triton and granddaughter of Poseidon.


Kourotrophos

Ancient Greek κουροτρόφος (kourotróphos, “rearing boys” or “bringing up boys”).

uder

(Greek mythology) Artemis, in her incarnation as the 'nurse of youths'


Phyllis

From Ancient Greek Φυλλίς (Phullís, “foliage”).

bor

(Greek mythology) A girl who killed herself for love, and was turned into an almond tree.

(Greek mythology) Phyllis (river god) Phyllis (Φύλλις) was the god of the homonymous river in Bithynia.

(Greek mythology) The title character of the tale of ( Phyllis and Aristotle ) in medieval legend

(Greek mythology) Phyllis, mother of the Trojan Alcaeus

(Greek mythology) Phyllis, consort of Ereuthalion


Alcyone

Latin Alcyonē, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkuónē), from Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn), which is considered to be of Pre-Greek origin.

(Greek mythology) One of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione.

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx.


Eridanus

From Latin Eridanus, from Ancient Greek Ἠριδανός (Ēridanós).

(Greek mythology) A mythical river of northern Europe, rich in amber.


fum

The fum is a bird said to be found in no part of the world but China. It is described as of most admirable beauty, and if at any time absent, or long unseen, it is regarded as an omen of some misfortune to the royal family.

1823, Richard Sickelmore, The history of Brighton from the earliest period to the present time:

(mythology, obsolete) A mythological Chinese bird, the fènghuáng.


Orphic

en-adj

Orphic (comparative more Orphic, superlative most Orphic)

more Orphic (comparative)
most Orphic (superlative)

Orphic ideology mainly concerned the mysteries of Dionysos, which many Greeks took very seriously.

2004, Stephanie L. Budin, The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 307:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Orphism and its doctrines and rituals.


Orphic

In particular, Plato often refers to the “Orphics” and mentions the “Orphic life” (Orphikoi tines legomenoi bioi, Laws 782c). Plato clearly distinguished the Orphics and the Pythagoreans. To speak very generally, the Orphics believed that the soul had a divine beginning but fell from the gods due to an original crime.

2021, Andrea Nightingale, Philosophy and Religion in Plato's Dialogues, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) A follower of Orphism.


Wotan

Borrowed from German Wotan. Doublet of Woden and Odin.

Wotan, finding that there is no escape, turns for help and advice to Loge, the God of Evil, the spirit of flickering, treacherous fire, the master of cunning and deceit; and he introduces to gods and giants the lust for gold.

1894, William James Henderson, Preludes and Studies: Musical Themes of the Day, page 17:

In Anglo-Saxon mythology, kings were descended from Wotan, or Odin, the high god of the Teutonic pantheon.

2012, Ian Bradley, God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Heart of the Monarchy, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 70:

(Germanic mythology) Odin, especially in his continental Germanic form.


Alcides

From Latin Alcīdes, from Ancient Greek Ἀλκείδης (Alkeídēs), from Ἀλκαῖος (Alkaîos, “Alcaeus”) + patronymic suffix -ίδης (-ídēs).

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Hercules


muke

Mandarin, perhaps 木客 (mùkè, “tree-lodger”).

2004, Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0520234081&id=Qyz5I7fi4PQC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA93&printsec=8&dq=muke&sig=JY79_rk9YR_usCiystUTxqVr9RQ
According to the fifth-century Gazette of Nankang, the muke/shanzao likewise resembled humans in form and speech, but instead of hands and feet they had birdlike talons and nested in high trees. The tree-dwelling shandu and muke both seem to have some affinity with a changeling bird known as ye, which nested in the high trees of the remote mountains of southern China.

(Chinese mythology) A kind of tree spirit.


Doris

And snowy neckd Doris, and milkewhite Galathæa.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 49:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Oceanus, who married Nereus and bore fifty sea-nymphs or nereids.


Midas

Learned borrowing from Latin Midās, from Ancient Greek Μίδᾱς (Mídās), from Phrygian Μιδας (Midas).

(Greek mythology) A king who sought and was for a while granted the cherished but subtly dangerous magical power to turn anything he touched into gold.


Themisto

(Greek mythology) the third and last wife of Athamas


Valhalla

From New Latin, from Old Norse Valhǫll (from valr (“dead warriors”) + hǫll (“hall”)).

der

[S]uch souls as were detruded from the body by any violent method went strait to Valhalla. (Latin original: Nostratibus sane hoc erat infallibiliter persuasum, animas, non vulgares, neque senio morbove, sec cruenta morte & vi corporibus exeuntes, recta ad Vahlallam ferri)

1791 May 1, “Moore's Inquiry into the Subject of Suicide”, in Monthly Review, London, pages 24–25:

In some poems they are envisaged as divine figures, women who serve mead to the dead warriors in Valhall, and who fulfil the will of Odin in overseeing battle and making sure that victory is awarded to the right man.

1996, Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda, Folio Society, published 2016, page xvii:

(Norse mythology) The home of half of all warriors who died gloriously in battle as well as many of the Æsir.

فَالْهُول

in Norse mythology, the home of warriors slain gloriously in battle


Phobos

From Ancient Greek Φόβος (Phóbos, “Fear”).

(Greek mythology) A son of Ares (Mars). Also the Greek god of fear.


Deimos

From Ancient Greek Δεῖμος (Deîmos), from δειμός (deimós, “terror”).

(Greek mythology) A son of Ares (Latin: Mars), god of terror.


Juno

From Middle English Juno, from Latin Iūnō of uncertain origin. One hypothesis is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dyúh₃onh₂- (“she of heavenly authority”), from *dyew- (“sky, heaven”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), reflecting her role as goddess of rulers. Another is derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yúh₃onh₂- (“the young goddess”), from *h₂eyu- (“long time, lifetime”) + *-Hō (“burden, authority”), making it cognate with Latin iuvenis (“young”). Both would have produced the unattested early Latin form *Iuvō, declined with the root Iūn- and eventually normalized to Iūnō.

(Roman mythology) The queen of the gods, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera.


asphodel

en-noun

asphodel (usually uncountable, plural asphodels)

From Ancient Greek ἀσφόδελος (asphódelos). Doublet of daffodil.

Her hand he seis'd, and to a shadie bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof imbowr'd
He led her nothing loath; Flours were the Couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, Earths freshest softest lap.

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) The flower said to carpet Hades, and a favorite food of the dead.


dryad

From Old French driade (“wood nymph”), from Latin Dryas, Dryadis, from Ancient Greek Δρυάς (Druás, “dryad”), from δρῦς (drûs, “oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *derew(o)- (“tree, wood”); cf. Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”).

der

Coordinate term: Meliai

There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass.

1914, Hans Christian Andersen, “The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie, transl., Fairy tales and other stories:


Midas touch

From the Greek legend of King Midas, related in chapter XI of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 C.E.), whom Dionysus (the god of, among other things, wine and winemaking) gave the power to turn things to gold by touching them.

Midaan kosketus

ability to gain financial reward or success from one’s actions easily and consistently

(Greek mythology, literally) The ability to turn everything one touches into gold.


Daphne

From Ancient Greek δάφνη (dáphnē, “laurel, bay”).

bor

Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd; / Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase; / The dove pursues the griffin

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

(Greek mythology) A dryad pursued by Apollo, who was turned into a laurel tree by the river god Peneus.


Penelope

From Ancient Greek Πηνελόπη (Pēnelópē), possibly from πηνέλοψ (pēnélops, “duck”).

You would be another Penelope; yet, they say, all the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca with moths.

c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

(Greek mythology) The faithful wife of Odysseus.


mandrake

en-noun

mandrake (countable and uncountable, plural mandrakes)

From Middle English mandrake, mandroke, an alteration of mandragora with the ending -dragora reinterpreted as related to dragon and replaced with native drake, from Old English mandragora, from Medieval Latin mandragorās.

(mythology) A mandragora, a kind of tiny demon immune to fire.


Proteus

Derived from Ancient Greek Πρωτεύς (Prōteús).

der+

(Greek mythology) A sea god who could change his shape at will.


draugr

(Norse mythology) An undead creature from Norse mythology, an animated corpse that inhabits its grave, often guarding buried treasure.


Meru

2003, J. Dina Bagdel, John C. Huntington Buddhist Cosmology: Environment of Meditative Transformation: Mount Meru, John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, Robert A. F. Thurman, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, page 66,
Buddhist realizations and transformations take place in a sacred meditational space known as Mount Meru, or Sumeru. In Western-language literature, the Mount Meru system is often construed as the "Buddhist universe," but this description is misleading as it implies a singular phenomenon. The Mount Meru system is indeed an expression of Buddhist cosmology, but it describes structure of the cosmos.

2013, Eric Huntington, Portrait of a Landscape: Depictions of the Meru Cosmos in Buddhist Art & Culture, Dissertation, University of Chicago.

(mythology, religion, usually with "Mount") The abode of the gods at the center of the universe in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.

Mount Meru

mountain abode of gods in Buddhist, Hindu and Jainistic traditions


Inari

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The god of harvests, fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success.


Norn

(Norse mythology) Any of the three goddesses of fate or destiny.

Norno

any of the three goddesses of fate or destiny


shapeshifter

/ˈʃeɪpʃɪftə/

The shapeshifter Lisa Bowalk, unable to shed the guise of a black panther, had gone onto the plain as a prisoner but was not now to be found among the dead above or the Captured down below.

Like the teller of shapeshifter stories—who conjures a shifting world of perceptions and expectations for his or her audience that is strikingly similar to the worlds created by the shapeshifter for its victims—the cultural practice of imagination...is an inherently shifty enterprise....

2003, Michael Bathgate, The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Folklore: Shapeshifters, Transformations and Duplicities:

There have also been verified reports of fire-starters and ice-makers and a shapeshifter so powerful she was able to frame another Smallville citizen for a bank robbery!

Granted, Grace is talking about actual transformation, but she's a shapeshifter. For her, growing a couple inches taller is like an alternative to wearing high heels.

2015 January 30, Dan Shive, “Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015”, in El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP, archived from the original on 2022-08-13:

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) A person or creature capable of changing their appearance or form at will.

canviaformes

creature capable of changing its appearance


Chinese dragon

(mythology) A legendary creature, usually depicted as long and snake-like, with many claws, common in several East Asian cultures.

চীনা আজদাহা

legendary creature common in several East Asian cultures

(mythology) A large snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag, and the claws of a tiger; known for its benevolent behavior in ancient Oriental mythology.


gigantomachy

en-noun

gigantomachy (countable and uncountable, plural gigantomachies)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Γιγαντομαχία (Gigantomakhía), from Γίγας (Gígas, “giant”) + μάχη (mákhē, “battle”) + -ια (-ia). Compare Titanomachy, Typhonomachy, centauromachy.

lbor

Γιγαντομαχία

Giants (Greek mythology)#The Gigantomachy

Here we will examine Amazonomachies, Gigantomachies, and Centauromachies; the Trojan War will be discussed in Chapter 7.

1995, Susan B. Matheson, Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens, University of Wisconsin Press, page 234:

You often see the Gigantomachy in the sculptural decoration of Archaic temples: the statement of the authority of the gods, made by the temple itself, is reinforced by the myth told upon it.

2006, Ken Dowden, Zeus, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 38:

First, beginning in the 5th cent. BC, the line between religious and commemorative-political art became blurred as traditional subjects were blurred to convey political meanings (e.g. the Amazonomachy, the Gigantomachy; see AMAZONS, GIANTS).

2014, J. J. Pollitt, “Art, ancient attitudes to”, in Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, editors, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, page 83:

(Greek mythology) The battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.

gigantomakhia

uprising of the Giants against the Olympian gods


Fates

"Oh, no!" said he, with a most imperturbable air, "I always make allowance for feminine weakness; I do not expect your mind to follow mine!"
"Now, the Fates forbid that it should!" thought Henrietta.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Influence of an Invitation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 17:

1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Through the years we all will be together / If the Fates allow

(Greek mythology) Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis; supernatural beings who controlled the destiny of men and of the gods.


Ariadne

en-proper noun

Ariadne (countable and uncountable, plural Ariadnes)

(Greek mythology) The daughter of King Minos of Crete and his queen, Pasiphae.


Arachne

From Latin Arachnē, from Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider”).

der

(Greek mythology) A woman famous for her skill at weaving. She was changed into a spider by the goddess Athena.

Arachné

(Greek mythology) woman famous for her skill at weaving


daimon

A modern romanization of Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “the one who divides, dispenser, tutelary deity”), intended to distinguish its ancient Greek sense from later conceptions of demons. Compare Ancient Greek Λᾰκεδαίμων (Lakedaímōn, “Laconian dispenser”).

cog

Phang Nga Bay
daemon (classical mythology)
spirit house

All at once, my daimōn—that other Me over whom I button my waistcoat when I button it over my own person—put it into my head to look up the story of Madame Saqui.

1890 January, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], “Over the Teacups”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume LXV, number CCCLXXXVII, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; The Riverside Press, Cambridge, →OCLC, page 121:

The object which first appears is adopted as the personal mystery, guardian spirit, or tutelary daimon of the entranced, and is never mentioned by him without first making a sacrifice.

1891, W[alter] J[ames] Hoffman, The Mide’wiwin or “Grand Medicine Society” of the Ojibwa, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 163:

Marcus Aurelius is persuaded that God gives every man a special daimon as his guide – a belief which reappears in the Christian guardian angel.

1945, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy: And its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, book I, chapter 27:

He will release his pent-up rage and fear no evil, for his genius is with him, and his daimon bids him violate all the taboos of the literary marketplace.

1960, Charles I. Glicksberg, “Norman Mailer: The Angry Young Novelist in America”, in Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, volume 1, number 1, Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A tutelary deity or spirit that watches over a person or place.


Fountain of Youth

(mythology) A legendary spring of water with the magical property of restoring youth and health to those who bathe or drink from it.

nuoruuden lähde

legendary spring of water that restores youth


Ys

(mythology) A mythical sunken city in Brittany.


Rhode

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, the oldest Oceanid, a daughter of Tethys and Oceanus


strix

From Latin strix, from Ancient Greek στρίξ (stríx, “screecher”).

der

What was distinctive about the strix was that […] it resembled an owl, or (to a lesser extent) a bat, being a winged, clawed creature, which flew by night and had a hideous screeching cry.

2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 69:

(mythology) A bird-like demon feeding on human flesh and blood.


Dysnomia

From Ancient Greek Δυσνομία (Dusnomía, literally “lawlessness”), from δύσνομος (dúsnomos, “lawless”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The daemon (minor deity) of lawlessness, listed by Hesiod among the daughters of Eris.


Ammon

From Latin Ammōn, from Ancient Greek Ἄμμων (Ámmōn), itself from Egyptian i-mn:n-A40 (jmn).

der

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">jmn</i>

Here, over five hundred years before, had come the founder of Alexandria, Alexander the Great, to visit the oracle of Ammon, the god figured to be like a man having the head and horns of a ram.

1898, Mary E. Bamford, Out of the Triangle:

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Amun


spiritual world

en-noun

spiritual world (plural spiritual worlds)

(religion, mythology) A metaphysical plane of existence parallel to the material world and occupied by spirits and other unearthly forces.

mundo espiritual

a metaphysical plane occupied by spirits and other unearthly forces


ambrosial

en-adj

ambrosial (comparative more ambrosial, superlative most ambrosial)

more ambrosial (comparative)
most ambrosial (superlative)

/æmˈbɹoʊʒəl/

Partly from ambrosia and partly from Latin ambrosius, + -al.

And whilst he slept she [Venus] over him would spred / Her mantle, colour’d like the starry skyes, / And her soft arme lay underneath his hed, / And with ambrosiall kisses bathe his eyes [...]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to or worthy of the gods.


harrowing of hell

en-noun

harrowing of hell (plural harrowings of hell)

Not the direct vision of the harrowings of hell as reported, for example, by many Christian visionaries, but accounts given by the departed souls themselves are more frequent and typical features of Jewish moralist writing.

1977, Raphael Werblowsky, Joseph Karo: lawyer and mystic, 2nd edition, page 44:

Of the four harrowings of hell that are cornerstones of Western literature […], we can eliminate the oldest.

2003, Robert J. Andreach, Drawing upon the Past: Classical Theatre in the Contemporary American Theatre, page 36:

[…] the Hero Twins go on to defeat Xibalba and its ghastly denizens, a true Harrowing of Hell.

2007, Sophie & Michael Coe, The True History of Chocolate, page 39:

(mythology, theology) A raid into the underworld by a heroic figure.


money tree

(Chinese mythology) A kind of holy tree believed to bring money and good fortune.


giantess

From Middle English geauntesse, geaunesse, from Old French; equivalent to giant + -ess.

He spide far off a mighty Giauntesse / Fast flying, on a Courser dapled gray […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

In the corner lay against the wall a stringed instrument not unlike a dulcimer, which, as people believe, the Giantesses used to play on.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 218:

The giantess picked him up and gave him such a squeeze that he felt he was going to choke.

1926, Enid Blyton, The Book of Brownies:

The giantesses lift arms like the trunks of sycamores, each finger tipped with an amaranthine talon.

1981, Gene Wolfe, chapter VIII, in The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun; 2), New York: Timescape, →ISBN, page 72:


Polyphemus

From Latin Polyphēmus, from Ancient Greek Πολύφημος (Polúphēmos, from πολύ (polú) + φήμη (phḗmē) + -ος (-os), literally “many-voiced”, “much spoken of”, or “abounding in songs and legends”).

der

(Greek mythology) A cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.


Agamemnon

/ˌæɡəˈmɛmnɒn/

/ˌæɡəˈmɛmnən/

From Ancient Greek Ἀγαμέμνων (Agamémnōn, “very resolute”).

bor

(Greek mythology) One of the most distinguished heroes of Greek mythology. He is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope and the brother of Menelaus. He is famous for rallying the Greeks in the Trojan War, yet infamous for the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia at the commencement of the war.


Siegfried

(Germanic mythology) Hero of the Nibelungenlied who defeated the Icelandic queen Brunhild.


Sigurd

From Old Norse Sigurðr, from sigr (“victory”) + varðr, vǫrðr (“guard”). This is the name of the legendary Eddaic character corresponding to Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungenlied, but the names are not exact cognates. Sigfrid is a saint's name in Scandinavia.

(Norse mythology) The principal hero of the Volsungasaga and of the Elder Edda's Niflung cycle, who slew a dragon.


Pandora's box

(Greek mythology) A box given to Pandora by Zeus, whose instructions stated that it must not be opened, and were then ignored, leading to disastrous consequences.


Pallas

From Ancient Greek Παλλάς (Pallás) (f.) or Πάλλας (Pállas) (m.), from πάλλω (pállō, “to poise, sway, or swing”), but explained here by the ancients as more specifically meaning to brandish something. In Athena's conventional iconography, she was often depicted with a spear or a shield. Thus the epithet was explained as referring to her brandishing these things.

(Greek mythology) Any of several people in Greek mythology:

An epithet for Athena, always used together with the name, as Pallas Athena, rather than alone.

One of the Titans, according to Hesiod the son of the Titans Crius and Eurybia.


ferryman

(Greek mythology, usually preceded by the) Charon.


satori

Borrowed from Japanese 覚 (satori), from Middle Chinese 覺 (kaewk, “to become aware, awaken to, dawn on”) (modern Mandarin 覺／觉 (jué); referring to the creature’s mind-reading ability).

der

The Satori appears in [Toriyama] Sekien's Konjyaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki as a hairy, ape-like, mountain-dwelling creature that can read people's minds[…].

2010, Zilia Papp, “Art History Meets Gegegeno Kitaro”, in Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art, Folkstone, Kent: Global Oriental, →ISBN, page 112:

Satori is a ghost that can read people's thoughts and haunts the mountains. The hairy Satori appears in an Edo-period book titled Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki. According to the book, Satori can read people's minds, but will not harm them. Even if a frightened person plans to kill him or her, Satori reads his or her mind and simply runs away before he or she can do any harm.

2023, Masami Kinoshita, “Super Scary Yokai”, in The Japanese Yokai Handbook: A Guide to the Spookiest Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Evil Creatures from Japanese Folklore, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 29:

This is most likely a type of Yokai called a Satori. They have the ability to read people's minds. And like with Satori, the only way to get rid of them is with a sudden, unexpected attack. […] The ability to read minds is dangerous, but it doesn't give the ability to predict sudden actions.

2023, Kenji Murakami, “Yokai Countermeasures and Weaknesses”, in Zack Davisson, transl., Strange Japanese Yokai: A Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Monsters, Demons and Spirits, North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, →ISBN, page 89:

(Japanese mythology) A yokai (“supernatural monster”) having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature said to dwell in the mountains of the historical Japanese provinces of Hida and Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture).

覺

yokai having the form of a mind-reading monkey-like creature


nahualism

From nahual + -ism. The first element is from Nahuatl nahualli (“sorcerer, spirit, animal form a person may take”).

uder

(folklore, mythology) The Mesoamerican belief that certain human beings can transform into animals.


thunderbird

A man there was, grim his expression, just like a Thunderbird his features were frightening.

1999, Andrew George, transl., Gilgamesh, section VII:

(mythology) A mythological bird, often associated with stormy weather, especially in various indigenous North American mythologies.


Aeolic

From Latin aeolicus, from Ancient Greek αἰολικός (aiolikós) or Αἰολικός (Aiolikós, “like the Aeolians”).

(Greek mythology) Of Aeolus, the Ancient Greek god of the wind.

Of, finding its or their origin in, or borne on winds; aerial.

(geology) Owing its creation, formation, or deposition chiefly to the effects of air currents.


Pasiphae

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πασιφάη (Pasipháē).

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Helios and the sister of Circe. She was raised as a princess at Cholchis, and then given in marriage to King Minos of Crete. With Minos, she was the mother of Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, Deucalion, Phaedra, and Catreus. She was also the mother of the Minotaur.


Götterdämmerung

/ˌɡɒtəˈdæməɹʊŋ/

/ˌɡɑtɚˈdæmɚ.ʊŋ/

[ˌɡɑɾɚˈdɛə̯mɚ.ʊŋ]

Borrowed from German Götterdämmerung (“twilight of the gods”), which see.

bor+

(Norse mythology) The myth of the destruction of the gods in a final battle with the forces of evil; the apocalypse.


shinigami

/ˌʃɪn.ɪˈɡɑːmi/

Borrowing from Japanese 死に神 (shinigami).

(Japanese mythology) A deity and/or personification of death.


couatl

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl cōātl (“snake”); influenced by Quetzalcoatl.

So rare as to be considered almost legendary, the couatl is one of the most beautiful creatures in existence.

1993, Doug Stewart, Gary Gygax, Monstrous Manual, page 46:

Winged, feathered serpents of considerable size and power, the couatl seeks to defend its territory against all invaders. Couatls are not malicious by nature, and frequently appoint themselves the guardians of humanoids within their domain, provided said humanoids are willing to offer it the occasional tribute.

2012, Timothy Groves, The Book Of Creatures, page 44:

For this reason, a couatl probably won't use it except to save a seriously wounded ally from imminent death, and in that case, it follows up with a sanctuary spell on its next turn, then spends the remainder of combat closely defending that ally.

2019, Keith Ammann, The Monsters Know What They're Doing:

(fantasy, mythology) A feathered flying serpent with psionic abilities.


angel hair

Sense 1 is a semantic loan from Italian capelli d'angelo.

sl

Angel hair consists of thin, cotton-like fibers that are found at the scene of UFO sightings. The strands look like spider webs (which many skeptics assert is precisely what they are) and have been found on houses, on the ground, in trees, and hanging off electrical wires following a UFO sighting.

2019, Stephen Spignesi, William J. Birnes, The Big Book of UFO Facts, Figures & Truth, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(ufology) A sticky, fibrous substance reported in connection with UFO sightings and other paranormal manifestations.


Thoth

Via Latin Thōth from Ancient Greek Θώθ (Thṓth), from Egyptian ḏḥwtj (“Thoth”, literally “he who is like the ibis”). Compare Coptic Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ (Thōout).

der

(Egyptian mythology) The ancient Egyptian moon god of wisdom, learning, and magic, usually depicted as an ibis or baboon.


Tantalus

From Latin Tantalus, from Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos).

(Greek mythology) A Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin-deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head; whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.


Aesculapius

Learned borrowing from Latin Aesculāpius.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of medicine and healing. Greek counterpart: Asclepius.


vampirism

en-noun

vampirism (usually uncountable, plural vampirisms)

(mythology) The state of being a vampire.


Eos

From Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”). Doublet of Aurora.

der

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of the dawn; daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Selene, wife of Astraeus (god of the dusk), and mother of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets"). Her Roman counterpart is Aurora.


Anubis

From Latin Anūbis, from Ancient Greek Ἄνουβις (Ánoubis), from Egyptian jnpw, i-n:p-w-E16

(Egyptian mythology) In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the god of the dead and tombs, commonly depicted with the head of a jackal.


Ægir

(Norse mythology) A giant and king of the sea, personifying the power thereof. He is the son of Fornjótr, and the brother of Logi and Kári. He has nine daughters — the billow maidens — by his wife, Rán, namely: Bára, Blóðughadda, Bylgja, Dúfa, Hefring, Himinglæva, Hrönn, Kólga, and Unnr.


labrys

From Ancient Greek λάβρυς (lábrus, “axe”), from Lydian 𐤩𐤠𐤡𐤭𐤧𐤳 (lapryš).

(mythology) A double-headed axe in Minoan mythology.


Maia

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes.

(Roman mythology) The goddess of growth after whom the month May (Latin maius) was named.


Mjollnir

Borrowed from Old Norse Mjǫllnir, from Proto-Germanic *meldunjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ-n- (“lightning”). Compare Old Norse mjuln (“fire”), Welsh mellt, Slovene mółnja, Russian мо́лния (mólnija).

(Norse mythology) The hammer of the Norse god Thor.


wendigo

en-noun

wendigo (plural wendigo or wendigos or wendigoes)

wendigo (plural)
wendigos (plural)
wendigoes (plural)

Borrowed from Ojibwe wiindigoo, from Proto-Algonquian *wi·nteko·wa (“owl; malevolent spirit, cannibalistic monster”). Compare Cree wihtikow, ᐃᐧᐦᑎᑯᐤ (iyhtikow, “greedy person; cannibal; giant man-eating monster”).

der

Through the pine woods of Keewaydin, / Over the snows of Shebandowan, / The Wendigo roams in the winter's frost / And pursues to destruction the hunter. / Yet no man can meet with the Wendigo, / No man can face him or see him; / Only his track in the snow is seen, / And lost is the hunter that sees it. […] The heart that ne'er quailed on the war-path / Turns to stone at the name of the Wendigo.

1905, Ernest Thompson Seton, “The Wendigo: Winter Death”, in Woodmyth & Fable, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 161:

The Windigo is a flesh-eating, wintry demon with a man buried deep inside of it. In some Chippewa stories, a young girl vanquishes this monster by forcing boiling lard down its throat, thereby releasing the human at the core of ice.

1984, Louise Erdrich, “Windigo”, in Jacklight, New York, N.Y.: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, →ISBN:

The noun windigo [Ojibwa wīntikō, Cree wīhtikōw] refers to one of a class of anthropophagous monsters, “supernatural” from a non-Algonquian perspective, who exhibit grotesque physical and behavioral abnormalities and possess great spiritual and physical power.

1988 fall, Robert A. Brightman, “The Windigo in the Material World”, in Ethnohistory, volume 35, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, page 337:

A series of ‘wendigo’ killings – a ‘wendigo’ was an evil spirit clothed in human flesh – brought to the attention of Canadian law around the turn of the twentieth century represent the extension of Canadian law to the heart of traditional Indian culture. These killings, however, also represent the extent to which some of the First Nations defied or ignored that law. […] Machekequonabe, an Ojibwa, was found guilty of manslaughter in an 1896 trial for killing what he believed to be a wendigo. […] Furthermore, in additional cases it seems that Indians, in order to protect their religious and cultural beliefs from Canadian law, carefully distorted the facts of homicide cases to conceal that they were wendigo killings.

1998, Sidney L. Harring, “‘The Enforcement of the Extreme Penalty’: Canadian Law and the Ojibwa-Cree Spirit World”, in White Man’s Law: Native People in Nineteenth-century Canadian Jurisprudence, Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y., London: Published for The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press, →ISBN:

Suddenly, I was certain what I had found had been the rest of the dead girl. I told the others about it, then added, "God Almighty. It must have been eating her." / "I think I know this creature," said Gwennie, and we all looked at her. "It called a wendigo. A most terrible thing." […] / Gwennie shook her head. "It is an evil creature. I hear of it once when I traveled far from here. The Ojibwe brave who told me about creature say it is a beast of the north, of the cold."

2004 September, Michael Jensen, chapter 9, in Firelands, Los Angeles, Calif.: Alyson Books, →ISBN, page 130:

No one is safe in such times, not even the Cree of Mushkegowuk. War touches everyone, and windigos spring from the earth.

2005, Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road: A Novel, Toronto, Ont.: Viking Canada, →ISBN; republished Toronto, Ont.: Penguin Canada, 2008, →ISBN, page 49:

[Abstract, page iv] To close, I demarcate the trend of American television shows to appropriate the wendigo, ascertaining a fundamental misunderstanding of indigenous cultural beliefs by American popular culture. […] [Introduction, page 2] The wendigo is a cannibal monster from the traditional stories of many northern tribes, specifically the Anishinabe stories, and is most often associated with winter and desperate hunger.

2016, Michelle Lietz, Cannibalism in Contact Narratives and the Evolution of the Wendigo (unpublished M.A. dissertation), Ypsilanti, Mich.: Eastern Michigan University, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-07-12, pages iv and 2:

(mythology) A malevolent and violent cannibal spirit found in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology, which is said to inhabit the body of a living person and possess him or her to commit murder.

وِينْدِيجُو

malevolent and violent cannibal spirit in Anishinaabe, Ojibwe, and Cree mythology


Cerberus

From Latin Cerberus, from Ancient Greek Κέρβερος (Kérberos), of unknown origin.

(Greek mythology) The giant three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades; and one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon.


Laestrygonian

From Ancient Greek Λαιστρυγόνες (Laistrugónes).

bor

Λαιστρυγόνες

1900, (translated by) George Herbert Palmer, The Odyssey of Homer, Houghton, Mifflin and Company
Before town they met a maiden drawing water, the stately daughter of the Laestrygonian Antiphades.

(Greek mythology) A member of a mythical Greek tribe of man-eating giants.


Laestrygonian

Λαιστρυγόνες

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to that tribe.


amphisbaena

From Latin amphisbaena, from Ancient Greek ἀμφίσβαινα (amphísbaina, from ἀμφίς (amphís, “both ways”) + βαίνω (baínō, “I go”)).

der

1971: What do you call that animal that goes backward and forward, head at each end? —'Amphisbaena'. A kind of lizard. It doesn't exist. — Anthony Burgess, M/F (Penguin 2004, p. 109)

(mythology) A mythical serpent having a head at each end of its body, able to move in either direction.


light elf

Back-formation from light elves, a calque of Old Norse ljósalfar.

Alfheim, where the light elves live. The light elves are as beautiful as the sun or the stars.

2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20:

(Norse mythology) A member of the race of Ljósalfar, daylight dwelling elves or nature spirits (as opposed to the underground dwelling dark elves or dwarves).


dark elf

Back-formation from dark elves, a calque of Old Norse dǫkkalfar.

Nidavellir, which is sometimes called Svartalfheim, where the dwarfs (who are also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains and build their remarkable creations.

(Norse mythology) A member of the race of Dǫkkálfar or Dark Alfs, creatures who live underground.


Olympian

From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olúmpios, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olúmpios) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólumpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).

affix

Pauſanias's account is related pretty faithfully there, if we except two errors, one, that Arcas an Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes with the brazen ſtatue, the other that he caſt a mare. […] We do not find in the author's Latin, that Arcas the Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes, &c.

1741, [Pierre] Bayle, “A Dissertation Concerning the Hippomanes”, in John Peter Bernard, Thomas Birch, John Lockman, et al., transl., A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical: […], volume X, London: […] James Bettenham, for G[eorge] Strahan, J. Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 361:

Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. He got gold, so that whatsoever he touched became gold—and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it.

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Morrison’s Pill”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 15:

(Greek mythology) Any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hades); (specifically) preceded by the: Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Greek deities.

olympolainen

any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon


Ida

(Greek mythology) Name of two sacred mountains situated in present-day Turkey and Crete, also called Mount Ida.


katabasis

en-noun

katabasis (countable and uncountable, plural katabases)

From Ancient Greek κατάβασις (katábasis), from verb καταβαίνω (katabaínō, from κατά (katá, “downwards”) + βαίνω (baínō, “go”)).

af

The ancient Greeks and the peoples of remote antiquity already knew of journeys of the soul, but these were often journeys to the infernal regions, descents into hell, catabases, with obstacles, such as encounters with various monsters, menaces of all sorts, the crossing of the bridge of the dead or the passage of mysterious rivers on foot or on horseback.

1923, Georges Berguer, translated by E. S. Brooks and Van Wyck Brooks, Some aspects of the life of Jesus from the psychological and psycho-analytic point of view, page 58:

The logic of the underworld is most on show in the Phaedra and the Hercules [of Seneca], which feature the returns of Theseus and Hercules from their katabases.

2009, James Ker, The Deaths of Seneca, page 136:

Willy, the concentration camp survivor who has experienced more evil than any other character, places no value on catabasis. When asked (in connection with Aeneid VI) 'Do you think everyone ought to descend to the underworld?', he replies briskly, 'Certainly not! It's very dark and stuffy and one is more likely to feel frightened than to learn anything.[…]'

2010, P. Martin, Anne Rowe, Iris Murdoch: A Literary Life, page 84:

Therefore, Erling Holtsmark's point that literary-mythic katabasis captures “the imagined physical orientation of the other world relative to this one” (25), is superseded in a post-mythic, ostensibly secular worldview by a journey that takes place within an underworld that is an exteriorized 'projection' of a protagonist's putative interior world, the domain especially of the unconscious, memory and dream.

2013, Russell J.A. Kilbourn, “Introduction”, in Cinema, Memory, Modernity:The Representation of Memory from the Art Film to Transnational Cinema, page 31:

(mythology, literature) A mytheme or trope in which the hero embarks on a journey to the underworld.


wheel of fortune

en-noun

wheel of fortune (plural wheels of fortune)

(mythology, philosophy) The wheel of Fortune.


Tir

Transliteration of Old Armenian Տիր (Tir), which is related to the Persian month name.

translit

(Armenian mythology) A scribe/writer god, in Hellenistic times identified with the Greek Apollo.


Dido

(Greek mythology) Founder and first Queen of Carthage.


nahuelito

(in Argentina, cryptozoology, mythology) A large aquatic creature, similar to the Loch Ness monster, which supposedly lives in Nahuel Huapi Lake, Argentina.


Aborigines

Learned borrowing from Latin aborīginēs, which see for more.

(Roman mythology) The earliest inhabitants of central Italy, from whom the Latins were said to have descended.

aborígines

the earliest inhabitants of central Italy


Pandarus

(Greek mythology) An archer on the side of Troy in the Trojan War who precipitated the war by breaking a truce.


Hermione

From the Ancient Greek Ἑρμῐόνη (Hermiónē). Not related to German Hermine.

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Helen and Menelaus, wife of Orestes.


Laverna

(Roman mythology) A goddess of thieves and impostors.


mythopoet

(mythology) a writer of mythic poetry; a mythopoeic writer.


mythopoetical

en-adj

mythopoetical (comparative more mythopoetical, superlative most mythopoetical)

more mythopoetical (comparative)
most mythopoetical (superlative)

(mythology) Pertaining to the creation of myths; pertaining to mythopoiesis.


mythopoiesis

en-noun

mythopoiesis (usually uncountable, plural mythopoieses)


Mazandaran

Borrowed from Persian مازندران (mâzandarân, literally “the gate or the valley of the giants”).

bor

(Iranian mythology) A land mentioned in Shahnameh and Avesta.


Dione

en-proper noun

Dione (countable and uncountable, plural Diones)

From Latin Diōnē (“of Jupiter”), from Ancient Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē, “of Zeus”).

(Greek mythology) Mother of Aphrodite, and possibly the same as the goddess Rhea.


Liber

(Roman mythology) A god of viticulture and wine, as well as male fertility and freedom.


Pandion

(Greek mythology) The name of two kings of Athens (Pandion I and Pandion II).


hellhound

From Middle English helle hound; equivalent to hell + hound.

From forth the kennell of thy wombe hath crept / A Hell-hound that doth hunt vs all to death:

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 195, column 2:

Barricading serves not: fly fast, ye Bodyguards; rabid Insurrection, like the hellhound Chase, uproaring at your heels!

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter X, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book VII (The Insurrection of Women):

(mythology) A demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.


Xanatos

(Greek mythology) Alternative spelling of Thanatos


Discordia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of discord, confusion, and strife.


daimonic

From daimon + -ic; from Latin demon (“spirit”), originally from Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “a god, goddess, divine power, genius, guardian spirit”). Doublet of demonic.

der

(psychology, spirituality, mythology, literature) The journey and transition from innocence to experience; part of the process of individuation.

(mythology, literature) The place where light and dark meet.


titanides

(Greek mythology) The daughters of Uranus and Gaia; the female titans.


aegipan

From Latin Aegipān, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek Αἰγίπαν (Aigípan), from αἴξ (aíx, “goat”) + Πάν (Pán, “Pan”).

there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Oegipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours.

1839, Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher:

"No," Shin said, "I don't think that folk who were warned that you were arriving on an ogre would be terrified to learn that an aegipan was part of the group also. Though I'm flattered that you'd consider such a possibility."

2007, David Drake, The Mirror of Worlds:

(Greek mythology) A goat-like creature resembling a satyr, sometimes portrayed as having a fish's tail.


Helle

(Greek mythology) A daughter of king Athamas, who, together with her brother Phrixus, fled from their stepmother Ino to Colchis on a golden ram. On their way, she fell from its back and was drowned in the strait called, after her, Hellespont.


capriped

(mythology) A goat-footed person; a satyr.


Nestor

From Ancient Greek Νέστωρ (Néstōr), possibly from νέομαι (néomai, “to return safely”), νόστος (nóstos, “homecoming”).

(Greek mythology) An old and wise king in Homer's Iliad.


Dorian

en-adj

Dorian (comparative more Dorian, superlative most Dorian)

more Dorian (comparative)
most Dorian (superlative)

Constructed like the French Doriens. From the Latin root of Dōres + -ian. Compare Ancient Greek Δωριεύς (Dōrieús, “of Doris”).

cog

(mythology) Of or relating to the oceanid Doris in Greek mythology.


Tū

(mythology) Shortened form of Tū-mata-uenga, Māori for 'Tū of the angry face', one of the great gods of Māori mythology, and the origin of war.


shifter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shifter.wav

(mythology, science fiction, fantasy) A shape-shifter; a person or other being capable of changing their physical form, especially a lycanthrope.


Elysian

Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Sebastiaen Vrancx

From Latin Elysium (from Ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον (Ēlúsion, “Elysium; an Elysian Field; one of the Elysian Fields”)) + -an (adjective-forming suffix).

der

(Greek mythology) Elysium (“the home of the blessed after death”).


Pontus

From Latin Pontus, from Ancient Greek Πόντος (Póntos, “Black Sea, Pontus”), from πόντος (póntos, “sea”), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀵 (po-to). Doublet of pons.

Pont

a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea

(Greek mythology) A sea god, particularly of the Black Sea.


Galaxia

(mythology) In new age mythology, the mother goddess corresponding to Gaia, but on a higher, galactic, level


Lares

en-noun

Lares pl (normally plural, singular Lar)

From Latin Lares, plural form of lār, from Etruscan [Term?].

Coordinate term: lemures

(Roman mythology) The household deities watching over one's family and tutelary deities watching over some public places.


Sif

From Old Norse, from sif (“kindred, kinswoman”), from Proto-Germanic *sibjō; see also Old English sibb (“kinship”) (whence Middle English sib (“having kinship; kinsmen”), whence English sib, sibling), German Sippe (“tribe”).

cog

As already stated, Thor was, according to the Edda, married to Sibil, that is to say, the Sibylla, and the Edda adds that this Sibil is called Sif in the North. In the Teutonic mythology Thor's wife is the goddess Sif.

1889, Viktor Rydberg, Teutonic Mythology, page 60:

For some contemporary Heathens, Lammas is sacred to Sif and Thunor (see Our Troth online Chapter LIII). In Snorri's Skaldskaparmal (see Faulkes 1998 [1987]: 96), Loki cropped Sif’s (presumably blonde or flaxen) hair, seemingly out of spite, a cropping which compares to the harvesting of corn.[…]Sif’s golden hair is a contemporary kenning for the cornfield as it is caressed by the breeze and makes gentle waves.

2005, Nathan J. Johnson, Robert J. Wallis, Galdrbok: Practical Heathen Runecraft, Shamanism and Magic, page 309:

(Norse mythology) A golden-haired goddess associated with earth, mother of Ullr and wife of Thor.


aition

From Ancient Greek αἴτιον (aítion, “cause”).

This helps us to understand why Greek initiatory rituals are so often accompanied by an explanatory story—technically, the aition—in which the god appears twice, as the adversary of the people and as their protector. These aitia typically follow a three-part scenario […]

2020, David M. Halperin et al., editors, Before Sexuality, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 123:

(Greek mythology) An origin story or myth in Ancient Greece.


Mahabharata

/mə.ɦɑːˈbʱɑː.ɾə.t̪ə/

Transliteration of Sanskrit महाभारत (mahābhārata).

translit

(Hinduism, mythology) An ancient Sanskrit epic concerning some text of the Bhagavad Gita, including elaborations on theology and morality.


Middle Earth

From Middle English middelerthe, myddyl erthe; an alteration of earlier middel-erde, middelerd; in turn an alteration of earlier middenerd; from Old English middaneard (“Middle Earth”), variant of middanġeard (“Earth, the world”, literally “the middle yard, enclosure, or realm”) mis- or reinterpreting its meaning, from Proto-Germanic *midjagardaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”) and *gʰórdʰos (“enclosure”). Cognate with Norwegian & English Midgard (q.v.) and Danish, Norwegian, & Swedish Midgård.

(chiefly Norse mythology) synonym for Midgard, the world of traditional Germanic cosmology, conceived as a realm between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Niflheim).


Vidar

From Old Norse Víðarr, from víðr (“wide”) + herr (“army”).